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Dallas voters approve City Charter amendment prohibiting discrimination against city employees based on gender identity and sexual orientation

Executive Summary: On November 4, 2014, voters in Dallas approved an amendment to the City Charter to add nondiscrimination protections for LGBT city employees.

The charter amendment, known as Proposition 4, added "sexual orientation" and "gender identity and expression" as well as color, age, marital status, genetic characteristics, national origin, disability, and military or veteran status to the list of categories protected from discrimination in the City Charter. Previously the City Charter prohibited discrimination against city employees based only on race, sex, and political or religious opinions or affiliation. The equal employment opportunity policy for the city of Dallas already prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

With the amendment, Dallas joins at least 200 cities and counties throughout the U.S. that have laws prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity, according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Additionally, 18 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws prohibiting public and private employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, while three more states prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation only. Earlier this year, President Obama signed an Executive Order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.